The streets, male angst, and oral sex: Brought to you by hip-hop

The Midwest is known for birthing unusual takes on hip-hop, and this week three Madison-connected acts allow us to sample the genre in a rather strange variety. Let us take a quick inventory:

The L.O.S.T. S.O.U.L.S's CD release show (Thursday, High Noon Saloon): The Madison rap crew packs a club-prowling sound on tracks from its new album, Theory. Thursday’s show not only celebrates the release of this disc of old-school street inspiration, it’s also a classic live setup in that there are eight openers and/or guests listed on the High Noon’s website. A show that builds up to the headliner for what seems like ages? Now that’s real hip-hop. Not that we mind the chance to sample the bill’s wide variety of Wisconsin hip-hop artists.

God-des And She's set at the Wisconsin Capitol Pride Festival (Saturday, Willow Island At Alliant Energy Center): The Madison-spawned, currently Brooklyn-based duo of MC God-des and soulful singer She utter proudly lesbian come-ons, sometimes over local DJ Pain 1’s beats. They’re naturally still best-known for “Lick It,” a song that takes on the subject of cunnilingus. Not much juvenile innuendo in this tune, just straight-up instructions for “how to do that pussy right,” rapped with all appropriate cheer. We can’t help but admire this blunt fuck-you to shame and inhibition. Also, the video's a total hoot:

Bi-Polar Bear's CD-release show (Saturday, Alchemy of all places): Formerly known as Horton The Irrelevant And August The Creep, this duo returns with more of an angry-drunk-young-man sound. The first track of their new CD is entitled “Fuck Her,” but that’s not really in the same spirit as “Lick It.”